Donor and recipient await date of kidney transplant

The date for Tim Biggerstaffâ€™s surgery has been set.
WLONâ€™s â€œSwap Shopâ€ DJ, featured in the LTNâ€™s April 23 edition, will be admitted to Wake Forest University Medical Center in Winston-Salem on Sunday, May 24.
His surgery will be Monday, May 25.
Biggerstaff got a call on May 7 and heard the news.
â€œI was stunned,â€ he said. â€œI thought it would be later than that. I wrestled with the possibility that it could be a couple of years.â€
Jack Folk, one of Biggerstaffâ€™s listeners, will donate the kidney.
Folk contacted the local DJ after hearing about his condition on the radio.
â€œHeâ€™s a very generous man,â€ Biggerstaff said in an earlier interview.
Biggerstaff has suffered from juvenile diabetes since childhood. He was able to lead a normal life until December of 2000 when he was diagnosed with cerebral vasculitis.
The setback landed Biggerstaff in the hospital for more than a month.
His continued health problems have resulted in 17 eye surgeries and four insulin shots a day. He spends his nights hooked to a paratonal dialysis machine to cleanse his system.
Biggerstaffâ€™s routines will change once the transplant is complete.
Doctors expect him to be in the hospital for about a week and out of work for about a month. The downtime is a small price to pay for a healthy kidney, Biggerstaff said.
He also hopes recovery will be quick for his donor.
Folk first made the transplant offer because he was out of work and felt it a worthwhile thing to do. Biggerstaff said he hopes Folk will bounce back quickly so he can return to work.
â€œThatâ€™s a tough position for such a generous man,â€ said Biggerstaff.
Folk and his family recently visited with Biggerstaff and his wife, Linda, for a cook out. They enjoyed the afternoon and didnâ€™t dwell on the upcoming procedure.
â€œWe donâ€™t talk specifically about it a whole lot,â€ he said. â€œWe both know itâ€™s coming. Weâ€™re just proud that itâ€™s happening.â€by Diane Turbyfill